Yee Sang (Homemade)

Every time I don't get to go back home for Chinese New Year, one of the first things I whine about is that I won't be able to have Yee Sang (a special salad that is normally only available during Chinese New Year in Malaysia and Singapore). It just did not occur to me to make our own - maybe because nowadays you'd only get the kind with the dehydrated vegetables at restaurants and supermarkets. Stupidly, for longer than I care to admit, the thought "how are we going to dehydrate the ingredients?" was the one thing that was floating about at the back of my head that was preventing me from coming to the now blindingly apparent solution. The haze must have lifted at some point because randomly, I put two and two together: the memory of my parents telling me that when Yee Sang was first introduced in KL, all the ingredients were fresh + that means we don't have to have dehydrated ingredients for Yee Sang = we can make our own Yee Sang with fresh ingredients. Doh!

So we made it by roughly following this recipe and it turned out brilliantly. S and I were both amazed and how closely it resembled what we normally get back home. One would think that there would be a drastic difference in taste when replacing dehydrated ingredients with fresh ones - but there really wasn't. I think the key ingredients were the toasted sesame seeds, the plum sauce and lemon juice. The first time we made it, we left out the lemon juice and the sauce wasn't quite right. The second time, with lemon juice, it was perfect. This tasty dish delivers a delightful myriad of flavours and textures - juicy, sweet, sour, savoury, crunchy, soft, crispy, nutty, soft, tangy, fresh....MMMMM! Every bite is just irresistibly refreshing, like a burst of 'happy' in your mouth. I don't think we will be able to resist not making this again even though it's not Chinese New Year anymore. S?

We adapted the recipe slightly because we couldn't get things like pomelo here, and as usual, we added/omitted whatever felt right:

Second attempt - close to perfect

Yee Sang (adapted from here)

Ingredients
(adjust to your preference)

Fresh salmon, sliced into thin fillets (season with lemon juice, a pinch of five spice powder and pepper)
Carrots, finely julienned
White radish/daikon, finely julienned
Pomelo, separated down to individual sacs or small segments (if you can get pomelo)
Pickled ginger, finely sliced
Pickled onions, finely sliced
Mango, julienned
Roasted peanuts
Toasted sesame seeds
Fried wonton skins
Fresh coriander

For the dressing :
Plum sauce mixed with lemon juice (about 2: 1, should still be reasonably thick)
Oil (we used canola)

Method

1. Make sure you buy the freshest fish for the dish and slice the fillet into thin strips. Season as instructed.
2. Arrange all the ingredients into sections on a large serving platter.
3. To serve, pour plum sauce dressing and oil over the salad then immediately toss the salad with chopsticks (and friends preferably) as high as you can (the higher the luckier apparently) without too much of it ending up on the table/floor, while making loud proclamations of good luck and fortune for everyone for the New Year.

Din Tai Fung

Originally from Taiwan, Din Tai Fung has branches all over the world and is immensely popular in KL and Singapore. It is one of my favourite, nicer, Chinese restaurants particularly when I feel like going to a comfortable, pleasant, modern place for a delicious, quick, simple, reasonably priced meal. Like Fong Lye, Din Tai Fung restaurants are well presented and look like they would be quite expensive to dine at, but are not. If I remember correctly, the average individual meal was priced at about S$10 or under RM20.

The two things that I always order at Din Tai Fung are the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Pork Dumplings) and the Fried Rice with Pork Chop. If you've never had Xiao Long Bao before, you're in for a real treat. These dumplings are special because they are made to hold broth inside the dumplings. The explosion of flavour from the broth from the first time I bit into one of these delightful, delicious, juicy, succulent little packages, was unforgettable. These dumplings are normally dipped in (or topped with) a bit fresh ginger and vinegar, which contributes that bit of acidity to the full flavoured dumplings and sets off the party in your mouth. It was quite a task, trying to photograph an open dumpling to show you the broth within, while desperately inhibiting the natural urge to slurp it all up in one mouthful.

Besides the Xiao Long Bao, of course, the Fried Rice with Pork Chop is another one of their extremely popular dishes. I know you can get fried rice just about anywhere, but like my sweet and sour pork complaint, it's one of those things that is taken for granted because it's so common and easy to make that no one really makes an effort to perfect it - until Din Tai Fung. In my opinion, their simple, classic, unadulterated Fried Rice is close to perfection. Their famous Pork Chop, which you can also order on its own, is always seasoned and cooked perfectly, beautifully tender and very, very tasty. There's no special glaze or sauce to dress it up, and no need for it - the dish is exquisite in its simplicity.

This visit, I also ordered some stir fried vegetables (might have been spinach), which was fresh and clean tasting - not overly seasoned or drenched in sauce. The sight of the bright, green young, tender shoots has reminded me of another pet peeve of mine - when restaurants serve vegetables 'old' vegetables, i.e. vegetables that were harvested later in the growth cycle. 'Old' vegetables are often tough and bitter, which is why back home, normally only young shoots are used for cooking. I think I've been served 'old' vegetables here (in Dunedin) more times in eight years than I have ever been in all the years back home. The point I am trying to make is that the vegetables at Din Tai Fung were young and tender and very good to eat.

Finally, I also had a dish of fried prawns with a mayonnaise-base dressing (might have been called 'Salad Honey Prawns' or something like that). I don't remember it being particularly spectacular, but I think it was decent enough. Something in the back of my mind tells me that I thought it was a bit sweet and that the flavour required some complexity and depth. Still I ate it all, so it can't have been bad.

Oh I want some Fried Rice with Pork Chop now. Writing about Chinese food during Chinese New Year when you're away from home is just masochistic.

Raffles City Branch 
252 North Bridge Road

#B1-08/09/10 Raffles City Shopping Centre 
Singapore 179103 

Mid Valley The Gardens Branch 
Lot LG-207, The Gardens Mid Valley City, 
Lingkaran Syed Putra 
Kuala Lumpur 59200 
Malaysia